Bifrost

Free

Bifrost is the fastest LLM gateway, with just 11μs overhead at 5,000 RPS, making it 50x faster than LiteLLM. ![GitHub Repo stars](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/maximhq/bifrost?style=social)

FreeFree tier

Inputs: text, image, audioOutputs: text

Type

Open Source

Company

Maxim

Visit Website GitHub (40 stars)

About Bifrost

Bifrost is an open-source, high-performance AI gateway that unifies access to 23+ providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex, Azure, Cerebras, Cohere, Mistral, Ollama, Groq, and more) through a single OpenAI-compatible API. It boasts extremely low latency with 11μs overhead at 5,000 RPS, making it 50x faster than LiteLLM. Features include automatic failover between providers and models, intelligent load balancing, semantic caching for reduced latency and cost, Model Context Protocol (MCP) for external tool integration, multimodal support (text, images, audio, streaming), and a built-in web UI for configuration, monitoring, and analytics. Deployable via npx or Docker with zero configuration, Bifrost also offers enterprise deployments with advanced capabilities such as adaptive load balancing, clustering, guardrails, and MCP gateway.

Key Features

Unified OpenAI-compatible API for all providers

Support for 23+ providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex, Azure, Cerebras, Cohere, Mistral, Ollama, Groq, and more

Automatic failover between providers and models with zero downtime

Intelligent load balancing across API keys and providers

Semantic caching based on semantic similarity to reduce latency and costs

Model Context Protocol (MCP) for enabling AI models to use external tools

Multimodal support for text, images, audio, and streaming

Built-in web UI for configuration, monitoring, and analytics

Enterprise-grade features: adaptive load balancing, clustering, guardrails, MCP gateway

Extremely low latency with 11μs overhead at 5,000 RPS

Pros & Cons

Pros

Extremely low latency (11μs overhead at 5,000 RPS), 50x faster than LiteLLM
Open source and free to use with self-hosting
Supports a wide range of providers (23+)
Single OpenAI-compatible API simplifies integration and migration
Automatic failover ensures zero downtime
Includes semantic caching to reduce costs
Built-in web UI for easy management and monitoring
Enterprise features available for advanced production deployments

Cons

Requires self-hosting and maintenance of infrastructure
Some advanced features (adaptive load balancing, clustering, guardrails) are only available in enterprise deployments

Best For

Building production AI applications that require high reliability and uptimeUnifying access to multiple LLM providers behind a single API for simplified integrationReducing latency and cost with semantic cachingEnabling AI models to use external tools via the Model Context ProtocolDeploying a private AI gateway for enterprise governance, security, and compliance

FAQ

What is Bifrost?

Bifrost is a high-performance AI gateway that provides a unified OpenAI-compatible API for 23+ LLM providers, with features like automatic failover, load balancing, and semantic caching.

How do I install Bifrost?

You can install Bifrost using npx with `npx -y @maximhq/bifrost` or run it via Docker with `docker run -p 8080:8080 maximhq/bifrost`.

Is Bifrost open source?

Yes, Bifrost is open source and free to use, with enterprise deployments available for advanced features.

Which providers does Bifrost support?

Bifrost supports 23+ providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex, Azure, Cerebras, Cohere, Mistral, Ollama, Groq, and more.

What latency can I expect?

Bifrost boasts extremely low latency with 11μs overhead at 5,000 RPS, making it 50x faster than LiteLLM.